


Touch

by keep_me_alone



Series: Batfamily Ficlets [10]
Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Emotional Hurt, F/M, Freeform, Hurt, Scars, some real light f/m
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-04
Updated: 2017-09-04
Packaged: 2018-12-23 23:23:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 455
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12000096
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/keep_me_alone/pseuds/keep_me_alone
Summary: Bruce has a lot of scars and this is a small ramble about them





	Touch

Bruce's body was covered in scars. He didn't know where they'd all come from, and usually he didn't take the time to wonder. Sometimes, when he was with a curious woman, he would make up stories for her. Mostly though, he just said that he had some eclectic tastes in physical activities, which was true enough, and left it at that. 

He didn't like to talk about all of his scars, and some of them he couldn't bear to have touched. He had one thick, short scar in his abdomen where he'd been stabbed clean through by the Court of Owls. Bruce didn't like to think about it. It still hurt sometimes.

A man bat had scored it's claws across his chest, leaving deep groves on his left pectorals. Damian had been in trouble that time. He'd had to save himself. Bruce had been busy with the man bats, laying on the ground, bleeding, trying not to die. Superman had come to chase off the last of them, probably preventing both of their deaths if Bruce was being honest, but he had been gratingly gracious, and being carried away had been embarrassing. Bruce always had a problem with being seen as weak, but in front of any of the League, that flaw was amplified. 

The worst of his scars, he'd actually had covered over. Bruce wasn't a forgetful man, but it was on his back and he'd also been healing from three stab wounds at the time. Shortly after that, he'd been having a fling. They'd been naked in bed. The woman, Laura, had run her fingers over his skin. She'd felt like silk under his hands. They'd mirrored each other's movements, and when he'd caressed her back, her fingers had skimmed his. He remembered very clearly the change that had come over Laura's face. He hadn't known what it meant at the time, had assumed she would just ask about his scars like many of the other women he'd entertained. She'd turned him to see, and he'd sat patiently. Laura had gasped, thrown herself into his back, wrapping herself around him. 

Bruce had remembered then, as she'd sniffled on him, squeezed him. She'd asked what happened and he didn't have an answer. The truth was that the Joker had taken a knife to him. That after stabbing him repeatedly, he'd carved a smiley face into his back. It had been difficult to console Laura. She was so distraught, so full of empathy for someone she barely knew. She'd readily agreed not to tell anyone. He'd felt bad for even asking. Bruce had gotten it surgically repaired a few days later. The scars were gone, but the feeling... He still didn't like to be touched


End file.
